Your friendly neighbourhood store with an Organic mission

Why Coconut Oil is Good For You!

Tropical populations frequently enjoy general good health if they follow traditional diets high in coconut oil and coconut products. They are healthy and trim, despite the high fat concentration in their diet.

And, in 1981, researchers studied populations of two Polynesian atolls, where coconut was the main source of caloric energy in both groups. The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, demonstrated that both populations exhibited positive vascular health. There was no evidence that the high saturated fat intake had a harmful effect in these populations.

Benefits of Coconut Oil:

• Promoting heart health
  
• Promoting weight loss when and if you need it ...
  
• Supporting your immune system health ...
  
• Supporting a healthy metabolism ...
  
• Providing an immediate energy source for you ...
  
• Helping to keep your skin healthy and youthful looking ...
  
• Supporting the proper functioning of your thyroid gland ...
  

The Best Oil to Cook With

Coconut Oil is the only oil stable enough to resist heat-induced damage, while it also helps you promote heart health, maintain normal cholesterol levels and even helps you lose weight.

Don't Use Polyunsaturated Fats for Cooking

Polyunsaturated fats, which include common vegetable oils such as corn, soy, safflower, sunflower and canola, are the worse oils used in cooking (Grape Seed Oil is an exception).This is because Omega-6 oils are especially prone to heat damage due to its double-bond molecular structure.

1. Besides creating trans fats, frying destroys the antioxidants in oils and as such oxidizes the oils and causes cross-linking, cyclization, double-bond shifts, fragmentation and polymerization of oils that cause far more damage than trans fats.
   
2. The overabundance of omega-6 fats in your diet, and the imbalance of the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio would give rise to many health problems.
   

Coconut Oil and Heart Disease

Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S and No. 2 killer in Singapore. It is also a silent killer. Sadly, over one third of heart attacks are fatal.

However, despite the propaganda, the truth is: primary culprit of heart disease is not the saturated fats, but artificially hydrogenated and heat-damaged unsaturated fats!

The U.S. Department of Health and the FDA estimate that artificially hydrogenated trans-fats -- the type found in fast food, processed foods and your favorite pastries -- are ultimately responsible for a huge number of fatal heart attacks every year.

These dangerous unsaturated fats are the ones you should avoid, not naturally pure coconut oil. Whereas bad polyunsaturated fats promote the formation of blood clots by increasing platelet stickiness, coconut oil helps to promote normal platelet function.

The unique health benefits of coconut oil are directly related to its chemical structure, or more precisely, the length of its fatty acid chains.

Coconut Oil Is Nature's Richest Source of Healthy MCFAs

Coconut oil is comprised of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), also called medium-chain triglycerides or MCTs. By contrast, most common vegetable or seed oils are comprised of long chain fatty acids (LCFAs), also known as long-chain triglycerides or LCTs.

There are several reasons to explain why long-chain fatty acids are not as healthy for you as the MCFAs in coconut oil:

• LCFAs are difficult for the body to break down -- they must be packaged with lipoproteins or carrier proteins and require special enzymes for digestion.
  
• LCFAs put more strain on the pancreas, the liver and the entire digestive system.
  
• LCFAs are predominantly stored in the body as fat. (That's why most people buy into the myth that fats are automatically "fattening".)
  
• LCFAs can be deposited within arteries in lipid forms such as cholesterol.On the other hand, however, the MCFAs in coconut oil are healthier, because:
  
• MCFAs are smaller. They permeate cell membranes easily, and do not require lipoproteins or special enzymes to be utilized effectively by your body.
  
• MCFAs are easily digested, thus putting less strain on your digestive system. This is especially important for those of you with digestive or metabolic concerns.
  
• MCFAs are sent directly to your liver, where they are immediately converted into energy rather than being stored as fat.
  
• MCFAs in coconut oil can actually help stimulate your body's metabolism, leading to weight loss.
  
  

Coconut Oil and Metabolism

One of the best benefits of coconut oil lies in its ability to help stimulate your metabolism. Back in the 1940s, farmers found out about this effect by accident when they tried using inexpensive coconut oil to fatten their livestock. It didn't work! Instead, coconut oil made the animals lean, active and hungry.

Studies have also demonstrated that replacing LCFAs with MCFAs results in both decreased body weight and reduced fat deposition. That means by changing the fats in your diet from the unsaturated long-chain fatty acids found in vegetable or seed oils to the MCFAs in coconut oil, along with following an exercise plan, you may find yourself gradually losing those unnecessary weight.

Since coconut oil helps to stimulate your metabolism, you may burn more calories each day, helping to accelerate weight loss (and probably your activity & energy level)

Unlike carbohydrates, coconut oil's ability to be "burned" for energy would not cause spikes in blood sugar level -- since insulin is not involved in the process of digesting the MCFAs in coconut oil, so you won't get those carb-related spikes in your blood sugar level.

This is especially good news for those of you concerned about maintaining normal blood sugar levels.In fact, the ability of MCFAs to be easily digested, to help stimulate the metabolism and be turned into energy has entered the sports arena. Several studies have now shown that MCFAs enhance physical or athletic performance.

Research has also demonstrated that, coconut oil increases the activity of the thyroid. And a sluggish thyroid is one reason why some people are unable to lose weight, no matter what they do.

Besides weight loss, there are other advantages to boosting your metabolic rate. The healing process accelerates. Cell regeneration increases to replace old cells, and your immune system functions better overall.

Coconut Oil Is Rich Source of Lauric Acid, Second Only To Mother's Milk

Coconut oil contains one of the same compounds -- lauric acid -- found in mother's milk! And lauric acid is the predominant type of MCFA found in coconut oil.

Lauric acid in both breast milk and coconut oil transforms into a substance called monolaurin in your body. Monolaurin is responsible for helping to strengthen the immune system.

Besides mother's milk, pure coconut oil is nature's most plentiful source of lauric acid.

This medium-chain fatty acid derivative actually disrupts the lipid (or fatty) membranes of the offending organisms.

Use Only Unrefined, Unbleached and Undeodorized Coconut Oil

Mass-producing coconut oil typically uses nutrient-removing heat, chemical solvents, bleaching agents and sometimes even hydrogenating processes, which can create trans-fats.